Don’t be fooled … Benitez still closer

Calm down, people. Take a breath. Mike Stanton is not the new Giants closer. Repeat, he is not. It is still your pal and his, Armando Benitez, and will be until further notice, or Game 162, whichever comes first.

Benitez, according to manager F. Alou, has a little ouchy elbow and was not available to close out Saturday’s 4-1 win over Cincinnati. That was left for Stanton, who breezed through the Reds for his 14th save of the decade (as opposed to Benitez, who has 16 this year alone; and no, we are not taking the time to compare blown save totals — it’s the weekend, and we have things to do, too).

No! This is not your closer.

But even in this era of good feeling, in which they have lost only three times in two weeks and now have seemingly found a partner for Jason Schmidt in the rotation in Noah Lowry, you will still have to bite incisor-sized holes in your tongue in the ninth inning, because Old Three-And-Two is still in his place, and probably available if not Sunday, then almost certainly by Tuesday in Atlanta.

True, that’s not what you wanted to hear, although it is hard to imagine you being much happier if your closer were Jason Isringhausen, or Danys Baez, or David Weathers, or the spectacularly named Ambiorix Burgos. But two weeks ago, your team was deader than plaid flares and platform waders, so have some dignity. He’s still around to make your spleens sweat, but at least it’ll be in games that have some meaning.